Defense Minister Jung, center, with German soldiers in Kabul (file photo) (epa)
May 4, 2007 -- German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung has rejected a request from the Afghan government for 19 German military advisers to move to the country's embattled south with an Afghan battalion they were training.

Germany's ground troops are only authorized to operate in Kabul and the north of Afghanistan, although the German air force flies reconnaissance missions over fighting in the south.

The Afghan government had urgently asked for the 19 Germans as part of an infantry battalion to be redeployed to the southern Kandahar Province.